FJ1100 fork conversion

[crazy steve]

What are you doing to the fork caps, is there something Im forgetting about? I will end up having to re-read this whole thread when I get mine.

If you install emulators, you have to remove the 'rebound adjustor' rod from the caps; doing this leaves a rather large hole. Phil tapped his for a 7/16" bolt, I machined two small aluminum plugs that go under the the hex 'set screw' that held the rod in.

'78E original owner

[crazy steve]

Got the Calipers...

... and it's good news/bad news. In a quick look, the late Harley 4 piston calipers look to be a very easy mount with tons of room to the wheel; I'm pretty sure the top mounting bolt on the caliper and the fork line right up. I'll need a 'bridge' for the lower bolt, but no big deal.

The bad news? Harley uses a much thinner rotor (.200" vs .270") so the calipers will just barely go on the rotors, and that's with worn pads. So more custom parts; I'll 'widen' the calipers .070" with spacers. No biggy, I've done it on a car when converting to vented discs, but it's more work...

'78E original owner

[bikerphil]

Oh and now the fun continues Steve, and you haven't even started bolting parts on the bike yet, have you?

[crazy steve]

Oh and now the fun continues Steve, and you haven't even started bolting parts on the bike yet, have you?

LOL! How'd you know? The really funny part of all this is I was just about ready to start reassembly after having all the stock bike parts pretty much rebuilt/polished/powdercoated/etc. But then somebody came along and showed me the promised land so now I'm back almost to square one.... I wonder who that was?

The upside to having the tools I have is it allows me more choices in how I do some stuff; but the downside is, it allows me more choices in how I do some stuff, if you know what I mean (hmm, this part fits ok and is handy, but if I make the part, I can get it perfect...).

But it's shaping up and I'm excited about the envisioned finished product. But as you know, change one thing and now four others don't quite fit right... or at all.

Besides the forks, I also have several other 'custom mods' planned. I built some new, shorter turn signal stems today (F & R; out of stainless no less), I'm redoing the windsheild mounting (I got a vintage NOS exact duplicate of the one I originally bought with the bike, but the mounting system sucked; I have this partially built, but it only fits the 37mm forks. Grrr.), and I'm building a steel hard brake line from the master cylinder to under the lower fork. This last mod will be the third bike I've done, and the improvement in brake feel is phenomenal.

With any luck, I'll get to ride the XS at least a little before summer is gone.

'78E original owner

[bikerphil]

I don't know if you're using the FJ upper TT, but the angle of the pinch bolt makes a nice attachment point for windshield mounting, unlike the XS's cockeyed pinch bolt.

[crazy steve]

I don't know if you're using the FJ upper TT, but the angle of the pinch bolt makes a nice attachment point for windshield mounting, unlike the XS's cockeyed pinch bolt.

Heh heh.... already blocked that option with my gauge mounts....

'78E original owner

[WMarshy]

Damage Report

Its final, got forks on their way with upper and lower tripple trees and bearing spindle for $80. I also have another box of goodies for $65 that includes handle bars, handle bar weights, both mirrors, fork brace, and a FJ front break master clyinder with handle and bar perch. Not a bad deal for $145 considering I was about the get everything mentioned for $165 minus the upper tripple tree clamp. This includes price of shipping of course. Add a set of straight wound springs for $75 and the total will peak $230... then add emulators. Soon we get to play.

[snowdog51]

crazy steve

dude you need two bikes 1 beater and 1 to mod on kinda like snow boards
one park board and one carve board

[crazy steve]

dude you need two bikes 1 beater and 1 to mod on kinda like snow boards
one park board and one carve board

Having something to ride isn't a problem; I've got two running Sportsters (and a third one for a more long-term bigger $$ project), so I'm not wanting...

'78E original owner

[snowdog51]

bikes

the way it should be

[WMarshy]

FYI... There's going to be some free parts up for grab if members want to partake in the FJ fork mod. More to come... http://xs11.com/forum/showthread.php...506#post271506

[81xsproject]

ME WANT FREE!! Sign me up.

[crazy steve]

A quick update sorta...

I just gone done polishing the triple trees and sliders, thought I'd post some pics before they get all fingerprinted. Here's what I started with on the top tree...

[IMG][/IMG]

After all the mods to use standard handlebars and mount the gauges just like original...

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

One thing I'll note here is that while the ignition switch mount is the same, if you install the forks with the spacer on the bottom, the switch ends up too low to properly engage the lock. Cutting .2" off the bottom of the mounts puts it in the right place.

I know everybody thought my idea to 'combine' two lower trees to make one for a 'spacer' looked rather bulky and industrial; what do you think now?

[IMG][/IMG]

This is about two days of hand work with a grinder/files/sanding discs before polishing, but I think it turned out good. I also built two turn signal mounts out of stainless steel and polished those.

And last, the sliders...

[IMG][/IMG]

A few things to note here. First, rather than use a 'block-off' plate to close the holes for the 'anti-dive valve', I tapped the holes for 1/4" pipe plugs; I'm going to pick up SS plugs for those. Second, there's actually two drain holes for the fork oil. There's the two obvious ones on the sides of the sliders, but there's two lower ones in the back; you can see one on the lower one in the pic. That's where you should drain the fork oil after the mods to get all the oil out and any settled gunk. I'm going to permanently seal the outside ones on mine.

I'm off to clean up the tremendous mess all the polishing caused (there's buffer lint and dust everywhere), then I'll get started on mocking up the forks and fitting the wheel/front brakes.

More to come...

'78E original owner

[psycoreefer]

any pictures of how you modified the the tree's to take the xs handlebar clamp?

[crazy steve]

Yep....

[IMG][/IMG]

Basically I just 'squared up' the top of the tree to give me a flat surface. Not much material was removed except for the cast-in 'switch cover'. To install the gauge mounts, I used the existing tapped holes for the OEM bars after machining a recess for them to fit into. The bottom halves of the bar clamps were made from bar stock.

One interesting thing I've found is a distinct lack of stainless/chrome buttonhead bolts in some metric sizes and/or lengths, so I've been retapping/substituting SAE bolts in places. The top tree pinch bolts have been upsized to 3/8-16, and I'm going to use 5/16-18 bolts on the bottom tree.

'78E original owner